


Götterdämmerung

by gloriouswhisperstyphoon



Series: a truth that no one wants to hear [5]
Category: American Gods - Neil Gaiman, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - American Gods Fusion, Angst, Does It Count As Major Character Death If The Dead Man Gets Better?, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 06:42:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16403270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloriouswhisperstyphoon/pseuds/gloriouswhisperstyphoon
Summary: The end for the gods comes, not with a bang, but with a whimper.Or: The war between the Old Gods and the New, as seen through the eyes of dead men walking.





	Götterdämmerung

**Author's Note:**

  * For [swdsnygeek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/swdsnygeek/gifts).



Kay Tuesso was thirsty. 

He had been thirsty ever since Cassian had brought him back, the golden coin branded brilliant in his mind and resting warm against his chest. 

Death hurt him, although the hurt was mostly for the  _ absence  _ of things: a thirst that permeated every dying cell, a coldness that almost burned. He’d caught himself looking at open flames sometimes, wondering if it would hurt to put his hand in the fire, to watch it blacken and catch alight, before he pulled himself back to the world he was still living in. 

The true living people around him burned - some of them like tiny candles about to be snuffed out and others like a torch. It was so easy to avoid them when he didn’t need to interact with them, but Cassian was an eternal light for him, burning as he was on the tree. 

_ Empty _ , his mind whispered to him. He had always been an empty man, haunted by his own demons, but on the tree in front of him, Cassian was more alive than he had ever been. He had kept watch as the life had faded from him, and he somehow became more focused and real. 

In his delirium, Cassian had begged him to stay with him. He had babbled about thirst and a well hidden in the roots of a giant tree and a moon that watched over him, and Kay had stood vigil for him the entire time. Their friendship would still stay the same no matter what. Perhaps. 

All Kay knew was that they had both changed; and that was all he knew. 

Cassian had told him to go to the farmhouse, that there would be water for him there, but there was no sign of life there. No lights in the window, the door standing ajar on rusty hinges. 

He pushed gently against the door, his eyes adjusting to the darkness as he walked inside. There was a narrow hallway, the entire building smelling of dampness and history. He squeezed through the corridor, ducking his head and found himself in a dilapidated room, ramshackle furniture everywhere and an oil lamp burning in the fireplace, even though there was no smell of smoke anywhere in the house. 

He wasn’t alone. 

He looked around and realised that the room was not empty.

Three women sat on a rotting sofa there like a set of open matryoshka dolls, all descending in size - a tall woman, taller than even he was, a woman of normal height and a woman so short she almost seemed hunched over. They looked at him, unmoving, with no emotions in their empty eyes. 

“Is this your farm?” he asked, his voice gone creaky with disuse. 

The tallest woman nodded, her expression still impassive. 

“Cassian told me to get some water,” he said, his mind still running through the possibilities for what would happen. “He’s the man on the tree outside. He told me to ask you for some water,” he filled in, when no one responded. 

Something shifted behind his rib cage and he moved slightly, feeling it dislodge itself. 

The tallest woman nodded, making no other movements. 

The smallest woman slipped off the sofa, doors opening and closing in her wake through the house.

The wind rustled through the house and it whispered secrets to him about the past, the future and the wars to come. 

There were a series of loud creaks from outside, and the sound of water splashing, before the woman returned with a small jug that she handed to him. 

The jug was cold in his hands as he took it and looked into it, the water perfectly clear.

He raised the jug to his lips and drank.

The water was colder than ice and it rushed through his veins like a flood, freezing its way through his veins, his stomach, his heart. It was a liquid flood of frozen fire and too soon, Kay realised that the jug was empty. 

The women were looking at him, their faces completely impassive and then -

He convulsed, suddenly. 

His hand reached out to steady himself on the table and he felt the table lurch under him and then the world went sideways and he felt something rising up in his mouth.

Kay brought up formalin, centipedes, maggots and then he could feel things being pushed violently from his body and the dusty floorboards came up to meet him and it would have knocked the breath out of his body if there was any left and then he felt  _ Time _ rush over him. 

He could feel the memories coming back, a thousand moths beating around his mind: a small child left alone in the back of a classroom, a hand extended to him by his new captain, as he laughed and then he was in the car as it rolled-rolled-rolled and then there was nothing but oblivion left for him.

Kay Tuesso opened his eyes and he tried to take a breath, and found that he could breathe in again. He rested a hand against his chest and he could feel his heart pounding there, feel the blood being pushed around his body, the breath in his lungs and the thousand tiny things that made up  _ life _ .

He knew where he had to go. With his dying breath, Cassian had told him to drink from the well of time, which flowed from the water of time and he could see the mountain before him, thunder booming overhead.

He started to walk. 

**Author's Note:**

> For swdsnygeek, as part of my halloweiner fic gifts. it's like hobbit christmas but for goths!
> 
> I hope you enjoy this!
> 
> Many thanks for FiKate for beta-ing this weird little thing.


End file.
